Jamey Learns About the Post Office

Meet Jamey… Jamey wants to use the post office to mail a letter to his relatives who live across the country.
When Jamey buys his stamp… he doesn’t realize he has already given money to the post office… through his tax dollars.

The U.S. Postal Service has been around since the birth of the nation. It played a vital role in the expansion and development of the country by making it easy and affordable to communicate over long distances. With huge advancements in technology, however, mailing letters has become a less essential form of communication.

Despite being able to deliver the mail, the postal service has not adjusted to the changing times and has been losing billions of dollars each year for nearly a decade.

The U.S. Postal Service is paid for in part by “Government Subsidies”… that is… hidden taxes that keep the mail coming six days a week. The federal government gives the postal service around 18 billion dollars in subsidies and benefits, collected from taxpayers like Jamey, each year.

And that’s a problem. For most of us, the government is only delivering a few letters, but it’s still sending us a huge bill.

So when you hear about the government subsidizing a product or industry… remember… It’s your tax money being given to products and services that may be losing money. These hidden taxes sometimes support outdated or unnecessary programs that you may rarely use.